The October Man

A film set in England. Jim Ackland was in a bus crash. The little girl beside him died. He was injured in the head. He spent months in hospital. The headaches do not stop and he sometimes loses himself. His doctor discharges him. He moves into a boarding house. He goes back to work. He works in a chemical laboratory. There are several people at the house. A retired man, a couple, a salesman and a model. Molly is the model. She becomes friendly with Jim and asks him for money. Then one night she is found dead in a park. Jim is the last to have seen her. From there the film is a story of suspicion. The police question him. His past comes out. Hospital records, a head injury, an attempt on his own life. The people at the house talk too. Each remembers something and all of it is against him. Jim is not sure of himself either. He does not fully remember what he did that night. What the narrative is interested in is not murder but reliability: its idea is that the man cannot trust his own memory, and that his defence collapses because of it. One person believes him. Jenny is a friend's sister. The narrative does not run an investigation. The police do their work and the real tension comes from Jim's account with himself. A railway bridge scene is the centre and is entirely silent. The killer is in the house and the narrative lets that be felt early. The images are in the noir tradition. Fog, night, small rooms and the sound of trains. This is among Roy Ward Baker's first films as a director. The screenplay is by Eric Ambler, who also produced. John Mills, Joan Greenwood, Edward Chapman and Kay Walsh are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1940s British thrillers and psychological noir. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a puzzle; the killer becomes clear early and the narrative does not try to hide it.